


Perversions, Plots, Perils and Politics

by firewolfsg



Series: Journey of Light (光) [19]
Category: Saiunkoku Monogatari
Genre: M/M, Reconciliation, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-03
Updated: 2010-04-03
Packaged: 2017-10-08 16:12:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/77448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firewolfsg/pseuds/firewolfsg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shuurei mulls over the fate of her friends and the politics of the Saiunkoku Court</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perversions, Plots, Perils and Politics

Shuurei smiled knowingly when she heard Kouyuu's yell reverberating across the palace grounds. Shiro's cool bath and therefore mud seeking habits throughout the summer was well known by the entire court.

Her smile threatened to grow even wider as her assistant let out a long suffering sigh and came to his feet. "Hime-san..."

"Ensei? Which actually are you more concerned about?" Shuurei asked curiously before she'd let him leave. "That *Seiran* becomes aware of those watching Kouyuu sama? Or aware that *you're* watching him?" She gave him a naughty grin.

"Hime-sama!" Ensei flushed bright red at her insinuation.

She gaily waved him off, mercifully letting him leave without answering her question. It was so rare for her to have something she could tease her assistant about she just relished the entire situation.

It was a good thing she thought to ask Jyuusan Hime about the secret assignment she and Ryuuki set for Ensei after her assistant developed a curious habit of disappearing after Kouyuu's yell. Considering the nature of the task, Ryuuki would never have given her a straight answer. And, most importantly, she would never have received an invitation to join the pavilion party.

Her first sight of her nearly nude friend shocked her speechless. But with Jyuusan Hime and the maids whispering naughty observations in her ear, Shuurei got over her shock very quickly and found the harmless fun in this voyeuristic thrill. It was also, for her, a very delightful and enlightening education on the male form.

However, she had to swear everyone to secrecy that Ryuuki would never hear of her participation. It would not do to have Ryuuki find out she spent an afternoon or two with Jyuusan Hime and the maids ogling Kouyuu in all his near nude glory; even if she was aware Ryuuki sometimes sneaked over to watch with them too.

Shuurei didn't believe Ensei ever got over the mortification of having her join the giggling pavilion of Jyuusan Hime and the harem maids spying on the Prime Minister's Aide bathing his wolf. Worse, their boss Kouki had followed him one day and upon returning with Ensei immediately launched into a discussion with Shuurei regarding the beauty of the male form.

Ensei had fled after three minutes. Shuurei on the other hand had steadfastly refused to let Kouki unnerve or embarrass her.

Much to her surprise, she had a rather enjoyable debate with her boss alternately critiquing and praising Kouyuu's attributes with all the emotion of an examination candidate analysing a piece of classical literature or a historical figure. And unexpectedly, she had impressed Kouki with her dispassionate analysis of her friend's physical beauty.

Her boss admitted to her then that he hadn't thought she would be able to talk about her friend in such a clinical and detached manner. Kouki actually praised her for learning to disconnect her feelings with the discourse on hand. It was a very important quality of an officer in the Censorate that they are able to do their analysis and duty without letting personal feelings interfere. And it was a skill he never expected her to master so quickly.

Ensei, on the other hand, disappointed him with his prudishness and clearly displayed embarrassment. However, given the subject matter, Kouki was willing to discount Ensei's loss of nerve.

Shuurei remembered listening with growing amusement as Kouki explained his theory of why it was arguably difficult for men to talk about another man's beauty and attributes. He gave two reasons; one, being a lack of confidence in one's own physicality and sexuality to be able to admire another man's beauty without feeling that they would be incriminating one's self as being attracted to his own sex; two, being attraction to the subject himself or someone of the same sex and not wanting to reveal it.

Kouki postulated that Ensei fled because at some level he was attracted to Kouyuu and wasn't comfortable about the feeling. He then made the observation that Shuurei wasn't sexually attracted to Kouyuu at all. Shuurei shocked herself with her boldness, but the question popped out before she could stop it and she asked Kouki if he was hinting that he was attracted to Kouyuu and wasn't ashamed to reveal it.

This seemed to Shuurei to be the turning point in her relationship with her boss because he was delighted with her direct question. However, he pointedly never answered it. And Kouki did continue to disturb Ensei by occasionally accompanying him on his Kouyuu guarding trips. Shuurei still wasn't sure if he did that just to mess with her assistant's head or because he genuinely liked ogling a near nude Kouyuu. After all, aesthetically, she could understand the attraction.

Shuurei put down her papers as visions of sunlight upon pale glistening skin filled her mind. She sighed dreamily. It was useless to concentrate on anything for a while whenever her mind drifted to thinking of Kouyuu bathing Shiro.

Still, Shuurei also couldn't help but reflect on Ensei and his nervous efforts in keeping his secretive guard duties from being noticed by Kouyuu, as well as Seiran and Shuuei. She thought it understandable with Shuuei. The man was still acting like an idiot around Kouyuu and it wouldn't do to have him see his best friend in this kind of light just yet.

With Seiran... Shuurei remembered TanTan claiming that Seiran was very scary when in a protective mood or mode. How ever many times she had heard this observation though, Shuurei still couldn't imagine Seiran being menacing. However, she also knew there were facets of her oldest friend that he'd never show her, just like he'd never tell her of the history between him and Ensei.

It frustrated her sometimes when she'd slowly find out the secrets her friends used to keep from her before she became an official. Now that she was an officer of the Censorate though, Shuurei thought she was so much happier being spoken to frankly by Shuuei and Kouyuu especially.

Thinking of Kouyuu again, Shuurei had to wonder how mad her hot tempered friend would get if he ever found out about all the tiny harmless little conspiracies they kept from him. It was a good thing for Seiran and Shuuei that Kouyuu was usually too busy with his work as the Prime Minister's Aide to pay too much attention to them with his guard wolf. If not, Spring's 'Operation: Wet Wolf' would probably have never got off the ground.

He may not like the sycophants who dogged his trail, but Kouyuu could still be very stuffy about the idea of deliberately embarrassing the bothersome pests. Seiran and Shuuei had no such compunction, but at least they were clever about it. Shuurei still couldn't work out how they managed to train Shiro to judge her water shaking field so accurately that she'd only catch the pestering, hopeful father-in-laws in the deluge and not the Prime Minister, his Aide, or their guards.

Sometimes though, Shuurei did wonder if Kouyuu was as oblivious as they'd like to think he was. She was quite sure he must have figured out the 'marriage proposal' prank by now.

One thing they never tried to hide from Kouyuu though were the attempts on his life which prompted the offer of a bodyguard in the first place, and later his gift of Shiro from his father. Since Kouyuu's reassignment to the Prime Minister's office, it was not overlooked that Yuushun's power and reach had grown tenfold. It was especially of note that the crippled Department of Civil Affairs was so swamped that of necessity, some work had spilled over to be handed back under the responsibility of the former Under Secretary.

The numerous officials who tried to protest this apparent redistribution and 'consolidation' of power in the Prime Minister's office were cheerfully asked by Yuushun if *they'd* like to be assigned the work given to his Aide. Faced with that public open offer in the Emperor's court, the grumbling officials reluctantly admitted that they didn't have the manpower to take on new duties which required a high learning curve to master. And that Li Kouyuu had both the knowledge and the experience to finish the work quickly and competently. His sense of judgment was even accepted to be unbiased since he had always strictly played no favourites in the Department of Civil Affairs.

It was also acknowledged that Li dono was possibly the only official in court who could be counted on to stand up to the Kou Clan on behalf of the emperor and emerge unscathed. Few would forget how the entire country had practically shut down when an unwary official caused the brief unjust arrest of the head of the Kou clan. That the same thing did not occur when Reishin dono was dismissed was seemingly owed to the fact that his son was the principal agent who had him removed.

This 'ability' did not go unnoticed. And it gave the Prime Minister's office unheard of power in the current era. A power which many among the nobility did not want Ryuuki to have, Shuurei acknowledged grimly. This placed her friend in a very unenviable position of danger in the Emperor's court.

That first attempt to poison her friend had infuriated Shuurei, especially since the manjuu buns which appeared on his table were supposedly from her. Fortunately, Kouyuu was very familiar with her hand writing and noticed the difference immediately.

The shinshi who Kouyuu tasked to dispose of the buns, however, was not as lucky since he disobeyed the order and shared his loot with a couple of friends. Their painful and agonizingly slow deaths were a warning to all not to take the danger Kouyuu was in lightly.

If the situation was not so serious, Shuurei might have been amused at how she and Kouyuu seemed to have exchanged positions. Years ago, when she first entered the Emperor's court, Kouyuu had been one of Shuurei's protectors. She'd never forget that he was the one who first presented her a silver cup. And who later even tried to guard her innocence by keeping from her the knowledge that her maid Kourin was the one poisoning her drinks.

Now though, she had, to Kouyuu's wry amusement, returned the silver cup to him. And she was among those who actively looked out for plots and conspiracies which might bring harm to their friend.

Were they too protective at times? Shuurei could only hope Kouyuu's patience would continue to hold. How ever much they knew it annoyed him to have them hovering, his friends could not help it. Shuurei knew that none of them were ever going to easily get over the horrible six weeks when Kouyuu had lain in a coma growing thinner with each passing day.

During the week before Kouyuu woke up, she had even stood with the guards who were silent witnesses to Shuuei's near frantic efforts to get water and sustenance into his best friend's body. And like many, she had watched with tears rolling down her cheeks, as the ex-General took small sips of broth to patiently push it past Kouyuu's unresponsive lips with his own, then stroked his throat gently to encourage the limp body to swallow the desperately needed liquids and nutrients. Shuurei could never understand why Shuuei persisted in claiming he was not in love with his best friend. From the way he cared for Kouyuu's comatose body during those horrible weeks, the love behind his actions could not have been any clearer.

Shuurei thought that the greatest injury to Kouyuu's friends, however, was during the aftermath of Kouyuu's reawakening and release from prison. At that time, Yuri-Hime insisted on taking Kouyuu 'home'. They could not deny Kouyuu's mother, especially when it was the music of her pipa which eventually led Kouyuu back to consciousness. However, it was objectionable to them that Kouyuu was immediately confined to bed rest at the Kou estates for the next few weeks, and denied any visitors during his convalescence. It seemed to be a move to isolate Kouyuu from the court, which Ryuuki claimed was most likely instigated by his father Kou Reishin.

Shuurei still didn't know what to think of this mysterious middle uncle who was the true head of the Kou clan. She had found herself quite angry with the man who never once visited his adopted son during the long weeks he was imprisoned.

When Kouyuu was in a coma, nearly everyone who knew him visited. Even Hakumei, who had kept his distance when Kouyuu was first arrested, sneaked a visit against his family's wishes. However, Kou Reishin never appeared nor apparently made a move to leave his deserted office.

Then, to have the infuriating man decide to keep Kouyuu at the Kou estates and near unreachable by any of his friends during his convalescence... Shuurei had been beyond furious with her uncle. If Kouyuu had not returned from those long weeks looking a good deal healthier and few pounds heavier, the Kou estates would have received a crowd of Kouyuu's friends with a bone to pick with him. If he did not return to court at all and were packed off to return to the Kou province, Shuurei was sure she would not have been the only one instigated to violence.

Worse, Ran Shuuei had during this long period of separation apparently decided he did not want Kouyuu to hear of the care he took of him and feel obligated to his best friend. Shuurei could recall Seiran muttering darkly to her father and her about clueless ex-Generals wearing blinkers at the end of that first day Kouyuu reported back to 'work' with Ryuuki.

Fortunately, the man himself was too worn out and harassed to pay the silent Shuuei much attention. The Emperor's office was practically inundated with requests from all the other departments in the kingdom asking for Kouyuu's transfer to them. And Kouyuu was at a complete loss of what he wanted to do now that the Department of Civil Affairs was closed to him.

The Prime Minister solved it all rather neatly by taking the pile of petitions from Ryuuki and throwing them out the window before turning to Kouyuu and asking him directly to be his Aide. Shuurei swore that the howls of displeasure from the other departments could be heard for weeks.

She also heard from her father that Kou Reishin was even more upset when he learned of his son's new position. Several months, and many failed assassination attempts later, Shuurei was only now realising that Kouyuu's father was in truth reacting to the danger the Prime Minister Yuushun and Kouyuu his Aide were exposed to by placing themselves as Ryuuki's direct supporters. It made Shuurei perceive this mostly unseen uncle as a deeply complex man.

What bothered her the most, however, was Kouyuu's wry but complete acceptance of the man. Her father had tried to explain it to her once that because of Reishin's rank and power in the clan, he dared not to openly display his likes or dislikes for fear of endangering his loved ones. As such, Kouyuu was in an especially unenviable position since many in the Clan perceived him as an outsider because he was given the name 'Li'. However, Reishin did it to free his son of the chains of obligatory servitude to the Kou Clan.

Yuri Hime further enlightened Shuuei that her husband spent many sleepless nights reading dictionaries and counting brush strokes to select Kouyuu's name. It was not a name picked on a whim, but one carefully chosen with great love and affection. Also Kouyuu had long been given the invitation to be granted the Kou name should he *choose* to ask for it.

Still, it was Kouyuu himself who ultimately convinced Shuuei to set aside her animosity for his father, especially when this ill feeling was felt on his behalf. She had sat in utter amazement as her former teacher mapped out the political ramifications surrounding his own incarceration and explained why his father kept his distance. And it was then that she finally understood the agony Reishin dono must have felt to force himself to stay away in the face of everyone else's perception that he abandoned his son; that this was the only way, the loving father could gift his son with the privilege of choice to decide his own destiny. If Reishin had visited… he would have decided Kouyuu's fate for him and *both* father and son would have been dismissed as officials.

Then there was also the fact that the Kou officials were still in court. And the very public gift of the white wolf Shiro to Kouyuu. Actions which meant Kouyuu was still held in favour by the Kou clan even though he clearly chose to place his loyalty to the Emperor above that to the Clan.

Shuurei wondered if she'd ever get used to and grow to become savvy with the politics of Saiunkoku. The subtleties of the court made her head spin.

Then there was Ran Shuuei... Ever since he'd been disinherited by the Ran Clan, Shuuei had taken to dressing in shades of grey instead of the Ran blue. However, all knew that though his court robes were of a simpler cut, they were no less well made as compared to his previous attire. The whole of Kiyou knew his brothers had commissioned these clothes for him as a very public gesture that though he was disinherited, Shuuei was still their brother and looked upon with favour by the Rans; and just as Kouyuu still occasionally stayed at the Kou's estates at the demand of his mother, Yuri Hime, Shuuei too kept his rooms at the Ran estates at the behest of his half sister, Jyuusan Hime.

Unfortunately, Shuurei also realised that as much as the Kou's apparently still favoured Kouyuu, as did the Ran's Shuuei, the lack of a direct affiliation withheld a certain level of protection and authority to their persons. Furthermore, Shuurei hated the knowledge that her beloved friends' positions as the Emperor's twin flowers was no longer a credit to Emperor Ryuuki since they now lacked both rank in the court and the backing of their respective clans.

Shuurei thought it most unfair when her friends were no different to the people they were before Shuuei's disinheritance and Kouyuu's dismissal as Under Secretary of the Department of Civil Affairs. Unfortunately, her outrage mattered little in the real world of Court politics, where Shuuei was no longer a General, but an ordinary soldier even if he was a rising star in the military; and Kouyuu no longer an Under Secretary, but a simple Aide even if it was to the Prime Minister.

The sound of chuckling drew Shuurei from her gloomy thoughts to look up at Ensei's unexpected early return. "Ensei? Surely Kouyuu sama couldn't have bathed Shiro that quickly."

"Oh, no, no, no. It's just-- Kouyuu doesn't need me to skulk in the shadows anymore." Her scruffy assistant grinned at her. "He's invited a helper to assist him. And I'm probably a few months closer to winning a generous little pot."

Shuurei blinked at him in puzzlement for a moment before she remembered the details of a surreptitious little betting pool she and Ensei had accidentally uncovered amidst the military ranks. Her smile was almost as wide as his as she rejoiced with the good news that Ran Shuuei and Li Kouyuu had finally mended their friendship.

"Well, it's about time!" She declared firmly.

"Too true. I was getting awfully jittery about this guard duty." Ensei pulled at his collar in mock nervousness. "But I've left Kouyuu in good hands. Our former General has very good eyes, and he announced rather loudly that he'd take Shiro for a short run through the woods after her bath to make sure she was nicely dried off.

"Since he was stroking his sword rather prominently when he said that I'm pretty confident there won't be any more problems with voyeurs."

Shuurei laughed with him. "I imagine Kouyuu dono is probably also dressing much more conservatively now."

"You know him well." Ensei let his breath out in long huff.

"Jyuusan and the maids aren't too disappointed, I hope?"

Ensei grinned broadly at her. "Shiro's still offering them entertainment. It seems having two men showering her with attention has made our precious wolf pup much more playful. She'd dumped them both into the water just before I left."

Shuurei cut short her bark of laughter as she eyed him suspiciously for his sudden blush. "You're leaving out something here, Ensei. Come on, what is it?"

"Hime-sama…" Ensei whined petulantly as he rubbed at his eyes. "Shiro dumped them both in the water and they're just wearing *light* under robes."

The significance of his words didn't register immediately. And it took a while, but her imagination suddenly sprang to life and Shuurei blushed furiously as her mind conjured into being images of two very wet biseinen in almost see-through robes, which probably clung to every curve and crevice of their bodies, chasing a white wolf pup around a lake. Seeing her expression, Ensei quickly made himself scarce.

Ooooooohhhhh. Shuurei fanned herself with one of her papers. With that sinful image running through her mind Shuurei knew she wasn't going to get any work done that day.

She decided that the next time Shiro wheedled a bath out of Kouyuu, she'd join Jyuusan and the maids to ogle their two friends. After all, her boss had shown that he quite understood the situation. And if Kouki heard that Shuuei now accompanied Kouyuu, he might even join them.

And who knows? They could possibly meet up with Ryuuki at the pavilion too. Shuurei hoped Shuuei didn't mind too much *this* particular audience joining his sister and the harem maids in their voyeuristic pleasure.

~owari~

Thanks for reading.

  


Cheers, firewolf


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